The Vice chairman
of Kwara United football club, Abdulrasaq Owolabi Wopa, had reiterated
the stance of the club at meeting their target of getting a continental
ticket, particularly a Champions League slot, tomorrow at the Ilorin
Township Stadium when they take on Kaduna United on Saturday.
Justin Tenger is
right now under a load of pressure, the title chasing Ilorin team has
lost three of it last five matches, a situation that doesn’t show how
serious they are to mount a challenge, though they are just three
points behind second place Kano Pillars who are on 45 points.
Perhaps they can
count on Kano slipping up in Kaduna tomorrow the way they did against
Heartland at the midweek, when they lost 2-0. Kwara will be level on
point if Pillars losses tomorrow.
A must-win for Pillars
On the other hand
Pillars will put out all the stop to make sure they came out with a
result from Kaduna, baring fatigue. When they take up Ranchers in
Kaduna on Saturday, it will be their third match in seven days, and two
consecutive away matches on the trot.
The 2-0 in the
rescheduled match against Heartland in Owerri dealt just a slight blow
to their ambition. Enyimba; the table topper is still at touching
distance- two points away.
Last Saturday
Pillars had the honour of being the first team Lars Lagerback watched,
when they defeated Gombe United 2-1 in an entertaining match,
characterized by missed chances.
After the duel the stand-in captain Abdulwasiu Showemimo said the team is focused on the Kaduna trip .
“We now have one
difficult away match with Ranchers Bees. We need to get a result from
this match to stay in contention for the league title”.
But his assertion
now hold new significance, having lost to Heartland, a slip at Kaduna
might see Kwara United playing at home, catch up with them.
Kaduna have made
their stead a fortress sort of, they have only dropped points in three
matches; all their ten victories are from there. But would this count
for a Kano Pillars team that went goal wire there last season
pummelling them 3-0, plus from the 12 away matches the Kano based team
have played, they have gone undefeated in six of them- winning one and
drawing six.
Gombe is difficult terrain
Playing in Gombe is
always a very difficult task, any club that has ever visited the Col.
Abubarkar Umar stadium knows it is almost impossible to win there. It
will also be very difficult to draw there. This is what Dolphin will
have to contend with on Saturday.
This is a clash of
two neighbours on the table, both are tied at 34 point, but Dolphin
lead on goals difference. The Port-Harcourt team is 11th, while Gombe
follows closely at 12th, so this is a really tie breaker.
Key players return
The Dolphins team
will be boosted by the return of certain key players who were either
away on national assignment or out with injuries.
Emma Nwachi, Mutui
Adegoke and John Huan have all returned from the Super Eagles B camp
and would have played the game against Sharks last week if not for
their late arrival to Port Harcourt.
Injured players like Jonah Abutu and Sunday Mbah have also resumed training and may be fit enough to make the trip to Gombe.
Abutu and Mbah had missed the game against Sharks due to injuries sustained in the previous home match against Zamfara United.
Apart from the returnee, the team has vowed to take the game to Gombe and put up a real fight.
China Acheru, the Port-Harcourt side’s spokesperson, said all they
ask for is for the match to be played in the spirit of fair play, “we
hope they won’t score with penalty conjure up by the referee like they
did against us in 2004, or score against us with a ball that did not
cross the line like they did in 2005.”
Leave a Reply